Sen. Rubio calling for Zika legislation, funds

Wednesday, August 03, 2016 - 01:20

Republican Florida Senator Marco Rubio is calling on the Senate to interrupt its summer recess to pass Zika legislation, and for the administration to spend $300,000 million dollars to fight the outbreak in the United States. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).

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ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)
STORY: Florida Senator Marco Rubio is calling on President Barack Obama to spend $300,000 million dollars to fight the Zika outbreak.
During a news conference on Wednesday (August 3), Rubio said, "Their argument is that money is for Ebola fighting- that money has already been repurposed. And once congress acts, that fund can be replenished. But we don't have an Ebola crisis right now, we have a Zika crisis."
"Zika is not just a public health emergency, it's also an economic one," said Rubio.
On Monday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an unprecedented travel warning, urging pregnant women to avoid travel to the Miami neighborhood at the center of the investigation.
Florida will conduct an aerial insecticide spraying campaign at dawn on Wednesday in an effort to kill mosquitoes carrying the Zika virus, officials in Miami-Dade County said.
The campaign will cover a 10-mile area that includes the one-mile-square area just north of downtown Miami that health officials have identified as the hub of Zika transmission in the state, the officials said on Tuesday.
The Zika outbreak was first detected last year in Brazil, where it has been linked to more than 1,700 cases of microcephaly, a birth defect marked by small head size that can lead to severe developmental problems in babies. The virus has spread rapidly through the Americas and Caribbean and its arrival in the continental United States has been widely anticipated.
Florida health officials announced another non-travel related case of Zika on Tuesday, bringing the total to 15.
The aerial spraying campaign was recommended by the CDC in conjunction with the Florida Health Department to reduce adult mosquito populations that might be capable of carrying the Zika virus.

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